Hands-On

“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” 

- Benjamin Franklin

This is one of my favorite quotes of all time. It represents my teaching style and philosophy perfectly. I am a huge believer in hands-on learning and that when children have the chance to see, touch and experience something, they learn far more than if someone stands in front of them and talks or gives them a worksheet. I know that the lessons I remember from my Elementary years are times when we went on field trips, did active science experiments or observed things first hand. I also have seen how, from the variety of lessons I have taught or seen taught, students have learned the most when hands-on activities have been placed in the unit or individual lessons. 

Sadly, because there is so much that needs to be taught in a year, sometimes it is easier and more  convenient to give a worksheet or just do something on the board. I make it my goal that whenever I write up a lesson plan I add some element of hands-on work. I want my students to leave my classroom and remember how I taught them about plants by having them plant and observe their own. I want them to easily remember facts about the five senses because they smelled, tasted, touched, listened to and saw new things around them. I want to teach my students about apples by taking them to an apple orchard and having them taste different kinds. I want them to practice adding and subtracting by using manipulatives and real life objects to count. I want to increase their reading comprehension by learning about things in books first hand. I want every experience they have in my classroom to be meaningful, memorable and most importantly to teach them something new!

I can’t wait to have my own little classroom of kiddos and to come up with lesson plans and activities that engage their minds.

Okay, I am done “teacher-nerding” out :)